Stacking device for book pads

ABSTRACT

A device for the stacking of flat books or book pads in which a pivotally mounted conveyor transports the books or pads to an associated, work-actuated unloading mechanism which consecutively drops the books or pads from a constant height to form a stack of predetermined height on a table or pallet. The conveyor is driven by a piston-cylinder power means which is actuated in response to a stack height scanning device.

United States Patent 1 1 l l l l STACKING DEVICE FOR BOOK PADS 4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl 214/6, 271/76, 271/86 Int. Cl 865g 57/112 Field of Search 214/6 P, 6

G, 6 H; 27l/68, 69, 75, 76, 86

Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examiner-Robert J. Spar Attorney-Arthur Schwartz ABSTRACT: A device for the stacking of flat books or book pads in which a pivotally mounted conveyor transports the books or pads to an associated, work-actuated unloading mechanism which consecutively drops the books or pads from a constant height to form a stack of predetermined height on a table or pallet. The conveyor is driven by a piston-cylinder power means which is actuated in response to a stack height scanning device.

l *7 16 15 m i 17 0 14 42 STACKING-DEVICE FOR BOOK PADS BACKGROUND AND OBJECTS This invention relates to a device for stacking flat books or book pads, for example, in connection with a trimming machine, and automatically fed in by a conveyor device.

The various operations involved in making a finished book differ greatly from each other in terms of time, the materials used, and the labor expenditure. Even in the case of an extensively mechanized bookbinding facility, these operations do not make it possible to bring about an absolutely continuous process from the moment the printing sheets, coming from the print shop, are cut, until the finished book is packaged. On the basis of existing machinery and for reasons of economy, various associated workfunctions are, so to speak, combined into process phases. Such a process phase, for instance, may exist between the completed binding of the book ridges or backs and the subsequent gluing and gauzing of the bound book pad ridges using special machines. The book ridge gluing phase ends with the trimming of the book pad along three sides in a trimming machine (a so-called three-knife trimmer). This is followed by another phase, during which the book pad is provided with a binding.

Between these various work phases, the book pads or the bound booksare stacked prior to packaging, for instance, on pallets or other devices which facilitate simplified transportation from one production phase to the next. This invention is intended to create .a device for the automatic stacking of books or book pads in order to save manual labor, on the one hand, and in order to handle the work pieces gently, on the other hand. When book pads, provided with glue along their ridges or backs, come out of the trimming machine and when they are stacked in a free-falling manner with the help of a conveyor device, there is the danger that the various sheet layers within the book pad might be shifted around because the drop is too great and this would then create a lasting irregularity because the glue has not yet completely hardened on the book pad ridge. One special objective of this invention is therefore the gentle deposit or stacking of the book pads or books with a minimum drop. According to the invention it is furthermore intended that the stacking height can be determined in advance and that the device is automatically cut off as soon as the stack height has been reached.

In solving this problem, the invention proposes, for a device of the design indicated in the beginning, that the conveyor device be supported at its end by an approximately perpendicular piston-cylinder drive and that it be prolonged by an unloading station which reveals two endless, continually driven conveyor belts for supporting a book in the vicinity of its edges and for the further movement of the book between lateral, longitudinal guide rails, against a terminal stop which is connected with a mechanism for moving the two conveyor belts apart, and that a stack height sensing device, arranged at the underside of the unloading station, be connected, in terms of drive, with a valve between a fluid pressure source and the piston-cylinder drive, in such a manner, that the valve remains open until the sensing device above the uppermost book in each stack has been lifted. On the basis of this proposal, a completely automatically working installation is obtained which makes it possible to transport the individual stacks away automatically, for instance, by having an electrical or pneumatic impulse generated for the control of a lateral conveyor, arranged below the unloading station, as soon as the stack height has been reached. Since the stack height is being scanned at any moment and since, accordingly, the unloading station is raised further, every time after the deposit of a book on the stack, the fall height or drop remains the same for every book, so that gentle treatment is assured.

The conveyor device consists suitably of an endless conveyor belt which is run over beginning and terminal rollers located in a frame. In the area of its beginning, it is swingably positioned around a horizontal axis. In the further develop ment of the invention it is proposed that the unloading station reveal a frame firmly connected with the conveying device. The lateral, longitudinal guide rails are adjustably attached to that frame and, below this, at one lengths interval from each other, two lateral rollers are located on which are arranged two pairs of guide rollers for the conveyor belts which serve as edge support, in an axially movable fashion.

All of the guide rollers of the conveyor belts, in their normal position, have the same perpendicular interval from the longitudinal center line of the unloading station and can be moved through, to the outside, by activating a fluid cylinder, which is controlled by the terminal stop, and a connected lever system, by the same distance, from the longitudinal center line, under the lateral, longitudinal guide rails. Of course, the fluid cylinder can be replaced by some other activating device; for instance, by an electrically operated lifting magnet. The working speed of the stacking device can be increased by making the time needed for the separation movement and for the return of the conveyor belts into their normal position no longer than would be required to pass on or drop off a book. For this purpose, the guide rollers of the conveyor belts can be elastically prestressed in their normal position which provides edge support for a book. In one preferred design, the lateral shaft of the unloading station, adjoining the conveyor device, is coupled with the terminal roller of the conveyor device by means of a belt drive. Here, the lateral shaft, adjoining the conveyor device, can be drive connection with the guide rollers by means of coiled springs or a groovedwedge gear-tooth system.

The unloading station can be adjusted to various book sizes by adjusting the lateral longitudinal guide rails and by the terminal stop which can be adjusted in the longitudinal direction on the frame of the unloading station.

Likewise, in a preferred design of the invention, the stack height scanning device consists of a light barrier whose interruption by a deposited book triggers the valve control for the loading of the piston cylinder drive under the conveyor device. The terminal stop can be coupled with a counter which turns the conveyor device. The terminal stop can be coupled with a counter which turns the conveyor device off after a predetermined stack height has been reached.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention is described in greater detail below with the help of an example illustrated in the drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic side view of the device involved in the invention;

Fig. 2 shows a schematic top view of the unloading station.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS From a trimming machine, not shown here, a conveyor device 10 picks up, for instance, flat book pads 11 and passes them on to a unloading station 12 from which a book pad stack 14 is formed on a receiving means such as a table or pallet 13. The dot-dash line 13a indicates that a lateral conveyor, consisting of rollers, can also be used instead of a pallet.

Conveyor device 10 consists of a frame on which a beginning roller 16 and a terminal roller 17 are positioned and an endless conveyor belt 18 is placed around these rollers. Of course, additional supporting rollers can be provided between the rollers 16 and 17 shown here. The conveyor devicel0, in a preferred version, is pivotally supported around the axle 19 or roller 16 and, in the area of the dropoff end, it is supported by a fluid piston-cylinder drive 20 which is supported on a foundation and, on the other hand, on frame 15 of conveyor device 10 in an articulated fashion.

Unloading station 12 likewise consists of a frame 21 which is firmly connected with frame 15 by means of connecting piece 22. In frame 21 of the unloading station two lateral shafts 23, 24 are positioned at one lengths interval in the Iongitudinal direction, whereby the lateral shaft 23;. adjoining the conveyor device If), is connected in terms of drive with the conveyor device, by means ofa belt drive 25, indicated in Fig. 2. The lateral shaft 23, powered in this manner, according to Fig. 2 bears two guide rollers 26 which are arranged symmetri cally with respect to the longitudinal center line of the device, while the other lateral shaft bears two identical guide rollers 27. The guide rollers 26, 27 are used to guide two conveyor belts 28 which support an oncoming book pad 11 in the area of its side edges.

Lateral, longitudinal guide rails 30 (Fig. 2), arranged in the frame 21 of the unloading station, are used to align the book pad during its transfer to the unloading station so that all book pads are aligned with each other after they have been deposited on the stack to be formed.

To pass on the book pads 11, which are aligned in unloading station 12, the conveyor belts 28 are moved apart laterally, along the direction of arrows 32, more specifically, below and past the lateral longitudinal guide rails 3030 toward the outside. For this purpose, guide rollers 26,27 are positioned in an axially movable fashion on lateral shaft 23, 24. The bearing or positioning of lateral shaft 23 is accomplished by means of splines or a single adjusting spring and an associated axial groove. in order to move guide rollers 26, 27 apart simultaneously, as soon as a book pad 11 has run up against a terminal stop 33, a fluid cylinder (not shown) is provided which is activated by means of an electrically operated valve; this fluid cylinder acts upon a corresponding lever system with return motion, so that all guide rollers 26, 27 are moved at the same time and by the same amount from the longitudinal center line of the device. Here the levers can either rest aga .ist the inside of the guide rollers or they can grip the guide rollers in the form of a fork. Terminal stop 33 can be adjusted, in adaptation to the various dimensions of the book ridges, on the frame 21 of the unloading device in the longitudinal direction. The terminal stop 33 can be connected with an electrical switching contact which activates the valve to activate the fluid cylinder and which at the same time is connected with an electrical counter that makes it possible to determine and adjust in advance the height of the stack to be made up.

In accordance with Fig. l, the stack height scanning device is a light barrier which, for instance, consists of a light source 40 and a photocell 41. As soon as a book, dropped off by the unloading station 12, is in the path of light beam 42, a switching impulse is generated in an electrical switching device which opens the valve for the loading of piston-cylinder drive until such time as the light beam 42 is once again above the height of the stack.

I claim:

1. A stacking device for book pads comprising:

a. a frame pivotally supported at a first end thereof;

b. a first conveyor belt means disposed on said frame and adapted to convey a book pad;

c. a power means adapted to drivingly support said frame at a point spaced from the first end thereof;

d. second and third conveyor belt means for supporting opposite edges'of the book pad, said second and third conveyor belt means being disposed on said frame adjacent a second end thereof in parallel, laterally spaced-apart relationship;

. a motive means for laterally moving said second and third conveyor belt means between a book pad edge supporting position and a book pad dropping position;

f. a terminal stop means associated with said stacking device for actuating said motive means when a book pad has been advanced a given distance by said second and third conveyor belt means;

g. a sensing means associated with said stacking device for sensing the height for a stack of book pads;

h. drive means operatingly connected with said sensing means and said power means to actuate said power means for pivotally moving said frame whereby said stacking device will be maintained at substantially a constant height from a stack of book pads;

2. A stacking device for book pads as recited in claim 1.

further comprising:

a. a pair of rotatable, parallel, spaced-apart shafts disposed transversely on said frame;

b. a plurality of guide rollers mounted on said shafts, said second and third conveyor belt means being disposed about said guide rollers, said guide rollers being moveable axially along said shafts to laterally move said second and third conveyor belt means between a book pad edge supporting position and a book pad dropping position;

3. A stacking device for book pads as recited in claim 1,

further comprising:

a. a guide means adapted to guide said book pads on said second and third conveyor belt means;

g 4. A stacking device for book pads as received in claim 3, further comprising:

a. a belt drive for coupling said first conveyor belt means to said second and third conveyor belt means. 

1. A stacking device for book pads comprising: a. a frame pivotally supported at a first end thereof; b. a first conveyor belt means disposed on said frame and adapted to convey a book pad; c. a power means adapted to drivingly support said frame at a point spaced from the first end thereof; d. second and third conveyor belt means for supporting opposite edges of the book pad, said second and third conveyor belt means being disposed on said frame adjacent a second end thereof in parallel, laterally spaced-apart relationship; e. a motive means for laterally moving said second and third conveyor belt means between a book pad edge supporting position and a book pad dropping position; f. a terminal stop means associated with said stacking device for actuating said motive means when a book pad has been advanced a given distance by said second and third conveyor belt means; g. a sensing means associated with said stacking device for sensing the height for a stack of book pads; h. drive means operatingly connected with said sensing means and said power means to actuate said power means for pivotally moving said frame whereby said stacking device will be maintained at substantially a constant height from a stack of book pads;
 2. A stacking device for book pads as recited in claim
 1. further comprising: a. a pair of rotatable, parallel, spaced-apart shafts disposed transversely on said frame; b. a plurality of guide rollers mounted on said shafts, said second and third conveyor belt means being disposed about said guide rollers, said guide rollers being moveable axially along said shafts to laterally move said second and third conveyor belt means between a book pad edge supporting position and a book pad dropping position;
 3. A stacking device for book pads as recited in claim 1, further comprising: a. a guide means adapted to guide said book pads on said second and third conveyor belt means;
 4. A stacking device for book pads as received in claim 3, further comprising: a. a belt drive for coupling said first conveyor belt means to said second and third conveyor belt means. 